Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) Wednesday delivered a scathing opening statement and directly criticized Attorney General Pam Bondi, accusing her of deliberately blocking the investigation into late financier and convicted child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Raskin, a ranking member, was one of several lawmakers questioning Bondi during a House Judiciary Committee Hearing on Capitol Hill. In a fiery speech, he demanded answers from Bondi about the Epstein files and investigation, and recent Department of Justice actions — reminding her that her clients are the American people — not President Donald Trump.
"But to promote justice for the people, you've got to listen to the victims like the women seated behind you today," Raskin said. "Those are just some of the hundreds of survivors of Jeffrey Epstein's global sex trafficking ring who are demanding that the truth be told and are demanding accountability for the abusers who trafficked and raped them you still haven't met with these survivors."
Raskin named several survivors and family members in the room and described his concern that Bondi and the DOJ have not met with them or taken interest to hear their stories. He accused her of standing on the wrong side of history.
"Now, you're not showing a lot of interest in the victims, madam attorney general, whether it's Epstein's human trafficking ring or the homicidal governmental violence against citizens in Minneapolis, as attorney general, you're siding with the perpetrators and you're ignoring the victims that will be your legacy unless you act quickly to change course," Raskin said.
"You're running a massive Epstein coverup right out of the Department of Justice," Raskin said. "You've been ordered by subpoena and by Congress to turn over 6 million documents, photographs and videos in the Epstein files but you've turned over only 3 million."
Raskin called Bondi out for redacting names of abusers, enablers and accomplices in the Epstein files and not redacting the names of survivors, which she was required to do by Congress.
"Some of the victims had come forward publicly, but many had not," Raskin said. "Many had kept their torment private even from family and friends. But you published their names, their identities their images on thousands of pages for the world to see. So you ignored the law. And even with over 100,000 employees at your disposal, you acted with some mixture of staggering incompetence cold indifference, and jaded cruelty towards more than 1,000 victims raped abused and trafficked. This performance screams cover up."
He criticized the DOJ's move to move Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein's co-conspirator, to a Texas minimum security camp where she has "five start treatment, including catered meals, private gym time and access to a therapy puppy."
Raskin then described the ongoing attacks on protesters, the killings of two American citizens in Minneapolis under ICE and the DOJ's response.
"There's no sign of any movement at the Department of Justice," Raskin said. "You even launched a criminal investigation into Renee Good's grieving widow. How sick is that? But it's even worse. You've turned the people's Department of Justice into Trump's instrument of revenge. Trump orders up prosecutions like pizza, and you deliver every time."
His last comment was a stark warning for Bondi.
"So we ask you politely but firmly, madam attorney general please do not waste one second of our precious time by evading questions, by changing the subject, or engaging in personal attacks against members of Congress. We saw your performance in the Senate, and we're not going to accept that this isn't a game," Raskin said. "The Senate you brought something with, you called a burn book, a binder of smears to attack members personally for doing the people's work of oversight please set the burn book aside and answer our questions."
